There's Artificial Intelligence, but that's not all there is to it...

 In a previous post I talked of Artificial Intelligence, or AI. A principal point I was attempting to make was that that at the root of AI was the same thing that is found at the root of all computer capability, code. Everything a computer does and is capable of doing is based on code. Code is simply written computer instructions. That may be a bit oversimplified but in essence it's true. For the technological level of computing available to most businesses and individuals today, that is the status quo today. Every application, every program, every operating system, is based on and functions with computer code. It matters not if the chip is AMD, Nvidia, Intel, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments..., they are nothing more than silicon and plastic without the aid and support of computer code. 

However, things are changing. Though still in the incipient stages, there is a new age of computing technology in the lab as we speak. It's called quantum computing. Arguably, it's a 'quantum' leap ahead of present computing technology (pun intended). The amalgamation of quantum computing with artificial intelligence is akin to finding a new inhabitable planet in the universe. There are 'breakthroughs in technology' but those words don't even begin to describe this one. 

Enough pie in the sky, let's start at the beginning and break this down. What exactly is quantum computing? According to IBM, quantum computing is "an emergent field of cutting-edge computer science harnessing the unique qualities of quantum mechanics to solve problems beyond the ability of even the most powerful classical computers." The field of quantum computing contains a range of disciplines, including quantum hardware and quantum algorithms. Still very much in the development phase, quantum technology will soon be able to solve complex problems that the supercomputers of today can't solve, or can't solve fast enough. By taking advantage of quantum physics, fully realized quantum computers will be able to process immensely complicated problems orders of magnitude faster than modern machines of today. To add some perspective, quantum computers may be able to solve challenges in a matter of minutes what might take a classical computer thousands of years to complete. 

All fine and good, but continuing on, what is quantum mechanics? In a single, simple sentence, it is the study of subatomic particles. This is about to get a little technical, apologies, but when talking about quantum mechanics it's hard to avoid getting a bit technical. In understanding quantum computing it's necessary to understand four key principles of quantum mechanics. 

• Superposition - the state in which a quantum particle or system can represent not just one possibility but a combination of multiple possibilities. At the same time.
• Entanglement - the process in which multiple quantum particles become correlated more strongly than regular probability allows.
• Decoherence - the process in which quantum particles and systems can decay, collapse or change converting into single states measurable by classical physics. 
• Interference - the phenomenon in which entangled quantum states can interact and produce more and less likely probabilities. 

I know, it's getting knee-deep, but stay with me. Classical computers, that's what you're using to read this now, rely on binary bits (zeros and ones) to store and process data. Quantum computers, on the other hand, can encode even more data at once using quantum bits or qubits, in superposition. A qubit can behave like a bit and be either a zero or a one, but it can also be a combination of a zero and a one at the same time. When combined, qubits in superposition can scale exponentially. Two qubits can compute with four pieces of information, three can compute with eight, and four can compute with sixteen. However, each qubit can only output a single bit of information at the end of the computation. Quantum algorithms work by storing and manipulating information in a way inaccessible to classical computers. In simpler terms, they have a hard time communicating with each other.

Silicon chip development has come a long way in a short time, but it's possible that we might soon reach a limit on the computing power of classical computers. Quantum computing appears to be the likely path forward. It is definitely a field we need to familiarize ourselves with. 

As with most contemporary topics, they're complicated. In the field of technology, they're especially complicated. We can only imagine the training and capability required to work in this field of the future.

Artificial Intelligence will bring into the realm of computing machines that can see, hear, smell and touch, and interpret and react. Humanlike, so to speak. Combined with computing power beyond anything we have today, there's so much more to the story than we can imagine...